# `react-doctor/no-set-state-in-render`

Move the setter call into a `useEffect`, an event handler, or replace the state with a value computed during render. Calling a setter at render time triggers another render, which calls the setter again: an infinite loop

- **Status:** Active
- **Category:** State & Effects
- **Assessment:** Evidence-required risk
- **Required evidence:** source code
- **Default configuration:** Enabled
- **Default severity:** warn
- **Scope:** All supported frameworks
- **Active when:** always
- **Requirements:** react
- **Priority:** 71 (P1)
- **Source:** oxlint-plugin-react-doctor
- **Rule set:** oxlint-plugin-react-doctor 0.9.3 (prompt schema 2)

## Validation prompt

Confirm the detector match and collect the required evidence before deciding whether an edit is warranted.

Fires only on a setX(...) call written as an UNCONDITIONAL top-level ExpressionStatement directly inside the component body, where setX is the setter from a useState binding in the same component. Calls nested inside an if, loop, try-catch, event handler, or useEffect are intentionally skipped to avoid false-positiving the canonical derive-state-from-props pattern.

## Evidence boundary

The diagnostic proves only that the detector's modeled source pattern matched. It does not prove runtime impact, product intent, rendered failure, or that one remediation is correct.

Establish the environment, explicit repository policy, relevant exceptions, and required rendered or runtime evidence before deciding the occurrence. This page’s Assessment and Required evidence fields define the review contract.

Default severity is registry metadata. Use the occurrence's JSON severity after repository configuration when ordering real findings.

Record one outcome:

- **Confirmed failure:** The required evidence establishes the violation.
- **Rejected:** A documented exception or false-positive predicate applies.
- **Needs evidence:** Named evidence can still be collected.
- **Unavailable:** Required evidence cannot be collected in this run.
- **Waived with evidence:** An authorized, scoped exception applies to an established failure.
- **Observation:** The review records an optional tradeoff without claiming a defect.

A waiver records its scope, authority, evidence, and review or expiry condition. It is not a pass or false positive.

## Fix prompt

Apply this candidate correction only after the required evidence confirms the risk.

Guard the setter when deriving from props (if (prevProp !== prop) setPrev(prop)), move it into a useEffect for genuine side effects, or: best: drop the state entirely and compute the value during render. Unconditional setters at render time cause an infinite re-render loop with the maximum-update-depth error. See https://react.dev/learn/you-might-not-need-an-effect#updating-state-based-on-props-or-state

## Repository-wide copy prompt

Use this only for a repository-wide pass after validating each occurrence. For one occurrence, use the occurrence-level guidance above.

````text
Fix every confirmed `react-doctor/no-set-state-in-render` diagnostic in the current repository.

Required change:
- Guard the setter when deriving from props (if (prevProp !== prop) setPrev(prop)), move it into a useEffect for genuine side effects, or: best: drop the state entirely and compute the value during render. Unconditional setters at render time cause an infinite re-render loop with the maximum-update-depth error. See https://react.dev/learn/you-might-not-need-an-effect#updating-state-based-on-props-or-state.

Validation before editing:
Fires only on a setX(...) call written as an UNCONDITIONAL top-level ExpressionStatement directly inside the component body, where setX is the setter from a useState binding in the same component. Calls nested inside an if, loop, try-catch, event handler, or useEffect are intentionally skipped to avoid false-positiving the canonical derive-state-from-props pattern.

Constraints:
- Make the smallest change that fixes the root cause.
- Preserve behavior and interfaces unrelated to this diagnostic.
- Reuse existing project components, utilities, and conventions.
- Do not introduce render-phase side effects, render-phase state updates, or Hooks rule violations.
- Adapt identifiers and framework details instead of copying blindly.
- Do not disable the rule or suppress matching code.

Assessment:
- Record detector evidence, applicability facts, assumptions, missing evidence, and the rule class for this occurrence.
- Return one outcome: Confirmed failure, Rejected, Needs evidence, Unavailable, Waived with evidence, or Observation.
- A waiver records the established failure, scope, authority, evidence, and review or expiry condition. It is not a pass or false positive.

Verification:
- Run focused tests for the changed behavior.
- Run React Doctor and confirm this diagnostic no longer appears from changed code.
- Run an unfiltered scan of the affected scope before claiming no cross-category regression.
- Report the files changed and any checks you could not run.
````